Shawnee County KS Archives Biographies.....Taylor, William L.
************************************************
Copyright. All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/ks/ksfiles.htm
************************************************
File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com September 27, 2006, 5:36 pm
Author: James L. King (1905)
WILLIAM L. TAYLOR.
WILLIAM L. TAYLOR, president of The Taylor Grain Company, of Topeka, whose
portrait accompanies this sketch, is one of the enterprising and progressive men
who have been attracted to this section of the United States because of its
apparent wide field of business opportunity. Mr. Taylor came to Topeka on April
15, 1902, from Columbus, Ohio, where, although still a young man, he had been
identified with important grain interests.
Milling, in these modern days, is a marvelous industry. From the earliest
times the grinding of grain has gone on and there still remain a few benighted
sections where it is carried on under the most primitive conditions. In the
early settlement of Kansas, one of the most important considerations was the
possible building of a mill, and many a populous city of the present day grew up
around the old water-wheel mill. Man's ingenuity has made wonderful changes and
improvements in all kinds of machinery and methods and probably no industry has
benefitted more than that of milling. Topeka, the great mill city, is the home
of one of the finest mills ever constructed in any part of the world, one where
perfection of plan and equipment has resulted in a plant second to none in
capacity. Reference is made to the Gyrator Mills in North Topeka, dedicated on
January 24, 1905, originally owned by The Taylor Grain Company, but now owned
and operated by The Gyrator Milling Company. The establishment of this plant at
Topeka and the successful completion of all that was proposed at the beginning
are due to the energy and ability of William L. Taylor, president of The Taylor
Grain Company and vice-president of The Gyrator Milling Company.
Coming here in 1902 Mr. Taylor was able, in two years, to see the wide field
offered for the enterprise he had under consideration. When he announced that it
was his intention to build here the largest, finest and most complete mill in
the world, the milling journals made the fact known all over the country and he
was soon visited by a representative of Wolf & Company, of Chambersburg,
Pennsylvania, who manufacture the "Gyrator" line of machinery. After considering
their claim as well as others, Mr. Taylor made the agreement with this company
that he would construct his mill after their latest improved plans and
specifications and they were to install the most improved milling machinery
manufactured. The guarantee was given that the mill would produce a better grade
of flour, at a less cost for manufacturing, than any other mill made.
The mill proper, a view of which is shown on another page of this work, is
five and a half stories high, made of pressed brick laid in cement throughout
and the walls are 26 inches thick above the second story. The first and second
floors are of white maple, the third, fourth and fifth of long leaf yellow pine,
quarter-sawed. On each floor there is a stand-pipe with fire hose attached ready
for use, two barrels of water and two hand fire-grenades. Speaking-tubes run to
the office from all floors and electric light is furnished all over the
building, provided by the company's own motor. The walls, ceilings and posts are
all painted a pure white with a fire-proof composition and every bearing of the
machinery is self-oiling. A brief description of the manner of treating the
wheat, which comes to the consumer so thoroughly milled yet retaining all the
sustaining qualities of the grain, must be interesting to every reader of this
work who depends for sustenance upon the "staff of life."
In 1903 Mr. Taylor purchased what was known as the Capital Elevator at
Topeka and changed its name to Elevator A. It has a capacity of 300,000 bushels.
The wheat is brought from this elevator through an underground tunnel to the
bottom of the mill, having been put in fine condition previously. It is then
elevated to the top and put on a special milling separator, which is composed of
four Wolf gyrators, in four compartments, each compartment having five sieves,
making 20 to each gyrator. These remove more thoroughly than by any other system
every foreign seed such as cockle, rye or cheat. From here the grain is elevated
to a special scouring machine where every grain has its coat thoroughly scoured
and the little fine fuzz, only to be detected by the use of a glass, is removed.
From here the wheat is dropped into a basin where it receives a light soaking in
water which causes it to swell and loosen the bran. It is then elevated into
what is called a brush machine which cleans out the little crevice in every
grain of wheat so that when it strikes the rolls it is absolutely clean and
nothing remains but the sustaining berry and its coat of bran.
This wonderful mill has made provision for the rapid handling of the grain
and has numberless improved machines found in no other plant. On the first floor
are five packers, three for flour and two for feed; by the side of each packer
is a platform scales, on which every package is weighed as handled. The flour
elevators and chutes are all tin-lined, this precaution precluding a possibility
of bugs or weevil. On the second floor are found 21 rolls, 9 by 30 inch double
stands, which grind the wheat, taking the place of the stones used in former
days. On the fourth floor are found four dust collectors, six middling
purifiers, one brush machine and one scourer. On the fifth are located six
centrifugal reels, one bran duster, one shorts duster, one "Imperial" rolling
screen, one separator, two tubular dust collectors, one cyclone dust collector
and the four mammoth gyrators, which bolt the flour, separating the bran,
shorts, etc. This mill has a 1,200-barrel capacity. A specialty is made of two
brands,—"Perfection" and "Invincible."
In 1904 The Taylor Grain Company was incorporated as a stock company with
these officers: William L. Taylor, president; Charles E. French, secretary and
treasurer; and Edward A. Austin and M. A. Taylor, directors. A very recent
organization was The Gyrator Milling Company with these officers: W. H. Davis,
president; William L. Taylor, vice-president; Charles E. French, secretary; J.
B. B. Betts, treasurer and C. K. Holliday, director. This company leased the new
mill of The Taylor Grain Company and will do a milling and flour business, both
domestic and foreign, but the elevator and grain business will be carried on by
The Taylor Grain Company.
The Taylor Grain Company has established branch agencies throughout
Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio and ships thousands of cars of grain
annually to the East. Mr. Taylor is credited with being one of the best posted
men on grain freight rates in the United States and can name the rate to every
place without any reference to the tariff book. He has gathered around him a
force of able, experienced grain men, all of whom have had business experience,
although none have reached middle life. Among these special mention should be
made of A. W. Long, the capable superintendent, who has had much milling
experience in Virginia, in the Northwest and in Kansas. Formerly he was one of
the stockholders of the Manhattan Milling Company, at Manhattan, Kansas, and
retired from that company to become one of the stockholders in The Taylor Grain
Company. It was largely upon his advice that the celebrated "Gyrator" machinery
was installed here. Charles E. French, secretary of the company, came originally
to Topeka from Farmer City, Illinois, and became traveling representative of
what was then W. L. Taylor & Company, and in this capacity he became known to
almost every shipper in Kansas, Nebraska, Indian Territory and Oklahoma. The
auditor of the company, R. B. Nelson, was a school teacher in Iowa and then a
bookkeeper for one of the largest grain firms in that State and subsequently
manager of the Wheeler Grain & Coal Company of Laurens, Iowa. He next accepted a
position as chief clerk and then chief accountant with one of Pittsburg's steel
companies. Upon the incorporation of The Taylor Grain Company, Mr. Taylor made
him auditor and chief accountant, a position for which he is qualified by long
experience, added to natural ability in this line. The company has
representatives at all the leading shipping ports and their manager at
Galveston, Texas, has been appointed Belgian consul at that point.
Additional Comments:
Extracted from:
HISTORY OF SHAWNEE COUNTY, KANSAS
AND
REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS
EDITED AND COMPILED BY
JAMES L. KING
TOPEKA, KANSAS
"History is Philosophy Teaching by Examples"
PUBLISHED BY
RICHMOND & ARNOLD,
GEORGE RICHMOND; C. R. ARNOLD.
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS,
1905.
File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ks/shawnee/bios/taylor116nbs.txt
This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/ksfiles/
File size: 9.2 Kb